Liquor theatrics

What is the American Theatre Corp. and why did the Meridian Township Board of Trustees recommend it for a free liquor license above four local businesses?

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Andrew Manuel has plans to expand and remodel his breakfast and lunch restaurant in Haslett. He wants to expand Blondie’s Barn, which he co-owns with his wife, Dawn, at 5640 Marsh Road, to offer dinner, a full-service bar and more staff. Standing in his way is a $50,000 liquor license.

Manuel said the Meridian Township Board of Trustees thwarted his plans when it voted nearly unanimously last month to recommend a rare, free liquor license for an out-of-state corporation that wants to take over the AMC Meridian Mall 6 in Okemos.

The company, American Theatre Corp., reportedly has a history throughout the country of launching plans for movie theaters that serve restaurant-style food with a full-service bar. Some of those endeavors failed or never came to fruition because the company’s subsidiaries didn’t pay rent or disclose financial information, according to media reports. Courts in four states have ordered the company’s subsidiaries to pay more than a total of $5 million for “broken contracts and rent not paid,” one Florida newspaper reported.

The board recommended that the state Liquor Control Commission grant the license to the Lansing Theatre Co., a subsidiary of the American Theatre Corp. Lansing Theatre Co. gives its address as 1999 Central Park Drive in Okemos, the same as AMC Meridian Mall 6. 

Manuel is having a hard time digesting the board’s decision.

“From a business perspective, it made more sense to give it to the small guy,” Manuel said of the board’s decision. “That killed my project.”

The Meridian Township Board of Trustees voted 6-1 at its July 5 meeting to recommend to the state Liquor Control Commission a “quota” liquor license for Lansing Theatre Co. One online company profile says the corporation has offices in seven states. That profile also says the company has an annual revenue of more than $30 million and employs 572 people.

Will White, owner of the Traveler’s Club International Restaurant and Tuba Museum who also sits on the Meridian Economic Development Corp.’s board, said the company has plans to spend nearly $2 million on renovating the AMC-6 theater in the Okemos mall, which is still in operation. Part of that includes adding a restaurant and bar feature to the theater.

White said the township has one available quota license. Quota licenses issued by the state Liquor Control Commission are based on population — one “on-site” permit is allowed for every 1,500 people. When multiple applicants seek the license, it’s the local governing body’s decision to approve a resolution recommending approval for it. Along with Blondie’s and Lansing Theatre Co., Coffee & Friends Café and “two applicants with Coney Island establishments” also applied, board meeting minutes show. Lansing Theatre’s application is pending before the commission.

White said escrowed liquor licenses typically cost $50,000 to $60,000, but that the quota license is essentially free. There are 58 active or escrowed liquor licenses in Meridian Township.

“Blondie’s is a local business, family-owned. And it’s already in business and could use it immediately,” White said. “The whole point being: The other guys could afford to buy one. Then we’d actually end up with two new liquor licenses instead of just one. It’s a win, win, win.”

White said the board also rushed into the decision, which wasn’t necessary because a lease agreement is still yet to be reached with the mall. “It just didn’t make any sense to me without any basic research or due diligence,” White said.

Meridian Mall general manager Larry Parsons did not return calls for comment.

American Theatre Corp. could not be reached for comment on this story. Four different telephone numbers surfaced while researching the company: one is temporarily disconnected; a second is no longer in service; and two had busy signals for two days. While two of the numbers are listed for Colorado and Nevada offices, all four have 404 area codes, which is in the Atlanta area.

Further, no website exists for this company, and it is not a member of the National Association of Theatre Owners, which represents more than 5,000 theaters in the U.S., said NATO’s director of media and research, Patrick Corcoran.

Media reports from Orlando, Fla., and Suffolk, Va., detail similar plans by American Theatre Corp.’s offshoots that ultimately failed. In Suffolk, the developer of a mixed-use project filed suit to terminate a lease agreement before the theater opened with American Screen Works — a local subsidiary of American Theatre Corp. — because it  “misrepresented its financial information and business history,” according to a 2007 Virginian-Pilot news story. In Orlando, the Orlando Movie Co. — whose CEO, James T. Duffy, is the same as American Theatre Corp.’s — opened a theater in 2009 that closed in about six months after failing to pay rent, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

That newspaper also reported in 2009 that local branches of American Theatre Corp. have been ordered to pay $200,000 in Maryland, $450,000 in Mississippi, $2.5 million in Texas and $1.9 million in Florida for “broken contracts and rent not paid” while the theaters were operating.

While American Theatre Corp. could not be reached for comment, the current operator of the Okemos theater, AMC Theatres, called it “speculation” that it was even moving out.

“AMC does not comment on rumors or speculation about theatre closings,” AMC spokesman Ryan Noonan said in an e-mail. 

Township Supervisor Susan McGillicuddy said it was her understanding that, based on past conversations with Parsons of Meridian Mall, AMC would move out when its lease expires Oct. 1. McGillicuddy supports giving the license to the theater: “For me, it’s in the best interest to keep the mall viable.”

Board trustee Lynn Ochberg wanted the July 5 minutes to reflect that Blondie’s would be the second choice should anything fall through with American Theatre Corp.

Ochberg, who is the board liaison for the EDC, was a yes vote because the theater shows greater economic potential.

“The tax return and revenue from the theater group is 10 times greater than the other four applicants,” she said. “Of course we would have preferred to give it to a local vendor, but we’ve got to go where the money is at this time.”

Yet Township Manager Gerald Richards said during the July 5 meeting that American Theatre Corp. planned to move here with or without the liquor license. Ochberg acknowledged that, but McGillicuddy said “that isn’t what I understood prior to the (July 5) meeting … based on conversations I’ve had with (mall management).”

Trustee Brett Dreyfus said it was a “difficult decision” to vote yes on recommending the license for the theater. “I think adding the liquor license just makes sense in this case. It’s a combination of the type (of business) and where it’s located,” he said. “I eat at Blondie’s and I appreciate Blondie’s. The local issue is sometimes trumped by the larger picture.”

Trustee Elizabeth LeGoff was the lone no vote. Along with having concerns about serving alcohol at a theater that may be showing PG movies, she thought the liquor license should have gone to a local business.

“I thought it was really unconscionable,” LeGoff said of the recommendation. “We did not give a liquor license to a local thriving business but we’re giving one to a business from the outside, which has made promises but will they deliver?”

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